A. Northern South America
and the Caribbean
The culture area of northern
South America and the Caribbean includes jungle lowlands,
grassy savannah plains, the northern Andes Mountains, some
arid sections of western Ecuador, and the islands of the
Caribbean.
Given its geographical location,
the region might seem to link the great civilizations of
Mexico and Peru;
but because land travel through the jungles and mountains
of lower Central America is difficult, pre-Columbian contacts
between Peru and Mexico took place mostly by sea, from Ecuador's
Gulf of Guayaquil to western Mexican ports.
The native peoples of northern
South America and the Caribbean lived in small, independent
states. Although they traded directly with Mexico and Peru
by way of Ecuador, they were bypassed by the empires.
Finds of Clovislike spearpoints
indicate the presence of hunters in the area by 9000 BC;
other evidence suggests that people were in the northern
region by 18,000 BC.
The Archaic style of living
continued from the time of the extinction of the mastodons
and mammoths, in the Clovis period, until about 3000 BC.
About this time, village dwellers developed the cultivation
of maize in Ecuador, and of manioc (a tropical tuber) in
Venezuela, and pottery making flourished.
Also after this date, the
Caribbean islands began to be settled. By 500 BC, in towns
in some areas of northern South America, distinctive local
styles had developed in sculpture and metalwork.
Population growth and technological
progress continued until the Spanish conquered the region;
at that time the Chibcha kingdoms of Colombia were famous
for their fine gold ornaments.
Around the Caribbean, smaller
groups such as the Miskito of Nicaragua, the Kuna of Panama,
and the Arawak and Carib
peoples of the Caribbean islands farmed and fished around
their villages; the Carib also lived along the coast of
Venezuela.
These peoples lived a simpler
life than did the peoples of the northern Andean states.
B. Central and Southern
Andes
The lofty chain of the Andes
Mountains that stretches down the western half of South
America, together with the narrow coastal valleys between
the mountains and the Pacific Ocean, were the home of the
great civilizations of Native Americans in South America.
In recent years, excavation
at the Monte Verde site in southern Chile has yielded unequivocal
evidence of human occupation dating back to 13,000 BC.
Excavations farther north,
in Peru, show that by 7000 BC beans,
including the lima bean, were cultivated, as were chili
peppers. A few centuries later the domestication of llamas
was begun. Guinea pigs were eventually raised for meat;
cotton, potatoes, peanuts, and other foods gradually became
part of Peruvian agriculture, and about 2000 BC maize was
brought from the northern Andes.
The peoples of the Pacific
coast, from Chile through Peru into Ecuador, also made use
of the rich sea life, which included many species of fish,
as well as water birds, sea lions, dolphins, and shellfish.
After 2000 BC peoples in villages
in several coastal valleys of central Peru organized to
build great temples of stone and adobe on large platforms.
After about 900 BC these temples appear to have served a
new religion, centered in the mountain town of Chavín de
Huántar. This religion
had as its symbols the eagle, the jaguar, the snake (probably
an anaconda), and the caiman
(alligator), which seems to have represented water and the
fertility of plants.
These symbols are somewhat
similar to those of the Mexican Olmec
religion, but no definite link between the two cultures
is known.
After 300 BC Chavín influence-or
possibly political power-declined. The Moche civilization
then appeared on the northern coast of Peru, and the Nazca
on the southern coast. In both, large irrigation projects,
towns, and temples were constructed, and extensive trade
was carried on, including the export of fine ceramics.
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The availability of
gold facilitated the creation of jewelry in large
quantities among the Moche
culture of pre-Columbian
Peru. This piece, known as a "tweezer" pendant,
features stylized bird heads and a feline image.
It was made between AD 200 and 700 and is now part
of the collection of the Museo Oro of Peru.
Tom McHugh/Photo Researchers, Inc.
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In
1987 and 1990 in Sipán, Peru,
archaeologists discovered the tombs of royal lords
of the ancient Moche culture. Buried in deep
shafts beneath adobe pyramids, the lords were surrounded
by goods indicating their wealth and status, including
ceramics, masks, headdresses, and jewelry of gold
and turquoise. The Moche civilization occupied the
northern coastal region of Peru from about AD 100
to 800.
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| Bill
Cardoni/Liaison Agency |
The
Moche depicted their daily life and their myths in
paintings and in ceramic sculpture; they showed themselves
as fearsome warriors and also made molded ceramic sculptures
depicting homes with families, cultivated plants, fishers,
and even lovers. They were also expert metalworkers.
By about AD 600 the Moche
and Nazca cultures declined, and two new, powerful states
appeared in Peru: Huari in the central mountains, and Tiahuanacu
in the southern mountains at Lake Titicaca.
Tiahuanacu seems to have been
a great religious center, reviving symbols from the Chavín.
These states lasted only a few centuries; after 1000, coastal
states again became important, especially Chimú in the north,
with its vast and magnificent adobe-brick capital city of
Chan Chan.
All Peru was eventually conquered
by a state that arose in the central mountains at Cusco;
this was the Quechua state, ruled by a people known as the
Inca. The emperor of the Inca
at the time, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, began large-scale
expansion of the empire in the 1400s; by 1525 Inca rule
extended from Ecuador to Chile and Argentina.
Civil war raged within the
empire from 1525 to 1532. At its conclusion, the Spanish
adventurer Francisco Pizarro landed in Peru and had little
trouble conquering the war-wasted Inca Empire.
During this time the central
and southern Andes were populated by farmers who raised
a variety of crops. Local products, transported by llama
caravans, were exported and traded between the coast, the
mountains, and the eastern tropical jungle.
The region's kingdoms were
governed by administrators aided by soldiers and priests.
Prehistoric Peru had the only great civilization known that
did not use writing; but the Peruvians did use the abacus
for arithmetic calculations, and they kept numerical records
for government by means of abacuslike sets of knotted strings
called quipus.
C. The Tropical Forest
The jungle lowlands of eastern
South America seem to have been settled after 3000 BC, for
archaeologists have not found evidence of any earlier peoples.
Population was always relatively
sparse, clustered along riverbanks where fish could be obtained
and manioc and other crops planted.
Various herbs
and foods were cultivated, including hallucinogens for use
in religious rituals;
these were also exported to Peru.
Although animals such as tapirs and monkeys were hunted,
little game was supported by the jungle forests.
No large towns existed-people
lived in thatch houses in villages. Sometimes the whole
village slept in hammocks, which were invented here.
Little clothing was worn,
because of the damp heat, but cotton cloth was woven, and
the people ornamented themselves with painting.
Among the many small groups
of the Tropical Forest culture area are the Makiritare,
the Yanomamo, the Mundurucu, the Tupinamba, the Shipibo,
and the Cayapó.
Speakers of Arawak
and Carib languages-linguistic relatives
of Caribbean peoples-also live in the northern Tropical
Forest.
Although Tropical Forest peoples
retain much of their traditional way of life, today they
suffer from diseases brought by Europeans and from destruction
of their lands by ranchers, loggers, miners, and agribusiness
corporations.
D. Southernmost South America
In Uruguay, Argentina, and
Chile, farming peoples such as the Mapuche of Chile still
live in villages and cultivate maize, potatoes, and grains.
Although they once kept llamas, after the Spanish invasions
they began to raise cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens, and
used horses for herding and for warfare.
Farther south, on the Pampas,
agriculture was not suitable; people lived by hunting guanacos
and rheas and, on the coasts, by fishing and gathering shellfish.
In Tierra del Fuego evidence
of this hunting-and-gathering life dates from 7000 BC.
On the Pampas, hunting was
transformed when the horse was obtained from the Spaniards
after AD 1555. The Tehuelche pursued guanacos from horseback,
and like the North American Plains peoples, once they had
horses for transport, they enjoyed larger tepees
as well as more clothing and other goods.
Farthest south, around the
Strait of Magellan, the Ona, Yahgan, and Alacaluf lacked
the game animals of the Pampas; they survived principally
on fish and shellfish, but also hunted seals and sea lions.
Nomadic peoples, they lived in small wigwams covered with
bark or sealskins. In spite of the cold, foggy climate,
they wore little clothing.
Life in Tierra del Fuego
appears to have changed little over 9000 years, for no agriculture
or herding is possible in the climate. The peoples native
to this region suffered greatly from diseases brought by
Europeans, and few survive today,
